Chrome 65 came out last week, and included Google's new ad-blocker and a few other security features. Chrome 66 has now graduated to the beta channel, and has several major experimental features. There's a new 'Modern Design' interface, partially based on the ill-fated Chrome Home UI, as well as updates to the media player and a new Clipboard API.

Whether on desktop or mobile, Chrome always offers to save your logins and passwords so it can easily autofill your details the next time you need to log in. In a way, if you accept that pop-up, Chrome (and thus Google) become your password manager. However, what happens if you want to use another password manager app? Migration can be a bit tough and not-so-straightforward and that's why Chrome is now offering an export function.

The beta version of Chrome 65 was released just over a month ago, and now it has graduated to the stable channel. This release includes the much-anticipated ad blocker, as well as a change to Incognito mode and some security improvements. Without any further ado, let's jump right in.

Near the end of last year, Google told developers that it was working to phase out apps in the Chrome Web Store, in favor of platform-independent Progressive Web Apps. While PWAs already fully work in Chrome and Chrome OS, Google has been trying to make them look and feel more like desktop programs. Kenneth Christiansen (a contributor to Chromium) has shared some screenshots of how the work is progressing, and it looks fantastic.

If you open links in some Android apps, and you have Chrome enabled as your default web browser, the page might be opened in a 'Chrome Custom Tab.' Instead of starting up the whole app, only a minimal browser UI is shown, with a large close button that takes you right back to the previous app. This feature requires the app open links a certain way, and as such, there have always been some apps that don't support Custom Tabs.

For over a year now, Google has been working on an overhaul of Chrome's interface on Android, called 'Chrome Home.' It moved the address bar to the bottom of the screen, and pulling up on the address bar would reveal an updated New Tab Page. Despite it being mostly ready for release, Google canned it earlier this month for reasons unknown.

In June of last year, Google revealed it was working on a built-in ad blocker for Chrome. But instead of outright blocking all ads, it would only block intrusive advertising, as defined by the Coalition for Better Ads. Pop-ups, animated or auto-playing ads, scroll-overs, and large banners are disallowed. Put simply, websites would have to play by the Coalition's rules, or risk losing ad revenue from Chrome users.

Google launched the AMP Project (Accelerated Mobile Pages) back in 2015 in an attempt to speed up the mobile web. It's had its share of teething problems, but it's mostly been a success with its implementation in Search and the Google Feed. Last summer, it was reported that Google was working on "Stamp," which would combine AMP pages with an interactive storytelling element. That project has now come to fruition, with the announcement of AMP Stories.

For years, HTTPS was regarded as only necessary for sites handling critical information, like bank portals. The movement for all sites to use HTTPS has gained traction over the past few years, partially thanks to the availability of free SSL/TLS certificates from Let's Encrypt, and partially thanks to browsers encouraging sites to switch. Starting with version 68, Chrome will start marking all HTTP sites as 'Not Secure.'

2017 was a big year for security research in technology, just as it is every year. With the much publicised 'Meltdown' and 'Spectre' CPU vulnerabilities and countless other lesser-known security bugs, researchers had their work cut out uncovering these flaws before anyone with more nefarious intentions could.

Google does its bit to compensate the research community for their hard work in keeping its users protected. In a recent blog post, the company released some numbers for the 2017 Vulnerability Rewards Program while also paying tribute to the dedicated researchers. Google paid out a total of $2.9 million as part of the program, to individuals and teams in 60 different countries.